The time it takes to heal
by JEM0013
Summary: What happens to Naruto after the war but before he becomes Hokage (note: I have not seen the movie yet)
1. Chapter 1

Prologue:

He woke up with a scream in his throat. The pain ripped through him with a pulsating throb starting where his heart was and radiating outwards.

He closed his blue eyes as sweat ran down his forehead and he tried to even his ragged breathing. Slowly sitting forward more to run his left hand over his face to wipe, as if to wipe away the nightmare.

Every day this week he'd been plagued with nightmares. Though, he thought to himself, he shouldn't complain…it had only been a week since the end of the war. But it was over, and he hated the fact that his dreams hadn't stopped with the change to peace.

He lowered his left hand from his face to look around his apartment, noting the clock read just after 2:00 am. He continued his scan of the darkness, flaring out his senses to check for intruders. Sensing none he decided he needed to get up and maybe go to the all night mart for a snack. He had ramen but he wanted a popsicle suddenly and had no reason not to go and get one.

He swung his legs over the side of his mattress and stood. He was dressed well enough for a midnight run to get food. Shorts and a T-shirt wouldn't offend anyone so he slid his feet into his sandals, grabbed his keys and walked out.

The walk to and through the mart was uneventful, the cashier, barely awake himself, didn't speak a word to him as he paid for his purchases. He strolled lazily away and to the park around the corner where he sat on one of the many empty swings. Pulling out a popsicle he again flared out his senses to check the surrounding area to check for unfriendlies…or friendlies. _He was not in the mood for a chat right now._ Sensing none he ripped the packaging off with his teeth, letting the wrapper fall to the ground for now. Taking a bite of the cold treat he sighed in relief as the coldness seemed to ease the pain that was still fluttering in his chest.

He became lost in thought while his treat started to melt. He thought of each of his friends and how they must be coping with all the changes in their lives. The grief was still fresh for all of them but so was the determination to work on reconstructions. _Time leaves nothing unaltered._

He smirked at the voice. Looking down at where his right hand should be. _I know that better than anyone…I've gone from Naruto Uzumaki, most unpredictable ninja, to Naruto Uzumaki, one handed ninja extraordinaire._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

**Flashback chapter…this whole chapter is a flashback so please don't be confused also please note that I used the manga to give me the "script" for this particular chapter…I do not own Naruto**

He woke up to staring up at the sky. The clouds were flitting calmly across the sky for how vicious and torrential the battle had previously been.

Naruto started to sense in the surrounding area as he moved his eyes to track to Sasuke. Looking to his right he saw his best friends bruised and dirty face.

"Sasu—" he started to move to check him when a wave of agony went through him, making him dizzy and sick to his stomach. His vision blurred for a moment while he laid back and stopped moving completely. Pain radiated through his whole body, nearly ripping a whimper from him. He tried to take stock of what hurt the most but he couldn't think of just one thing. _No…that's not true._ His right arm was shooting painful daggers up to his chest. _Must be broken pretty badly, Sakura's going to kill me._ He slowly looked down to take stock of how bad. _Shit! Teme we've really done it now. Sakura is SO going to kill us._

Naruto focused on slowing his breathing. He knew he couldn't risk moving, not if he wanted to keep from bleeding out. He looked again at Sasuke. _He won't be moving yet but I'll have to stay awake to warn him when he wakes up._

Time passed. He felt himself getting tired but couldn't allow himself to drift off. He used this time to try and reach Kurama, but as of current, he couldn't reach him. The sky darkened and the moon came into full view before he heard his friend start to stir.

"ugh…"

"Awake now, huh…"

"Ouch" Sasuke flinched and looked down.

When he felt Sasuke tense he knew he had to make an offhand remark. "It's just as you see it…if we move too much, we'll bleed to death."

Sasuke turned his black eye to look at his blond rival and friend. When he didn't look back at him Sasuke turned his gaze upward. "Just look at you…" he felt such guilt at being the one to injure his friend to this degree. "why do you insist on getting in my way?" He continued to rant his anger out, now looking back at Naruto. Willing him to look at him. "But, you never thought of cutting ties with me…no matter what happened…why do you care so much about me?!"

Finally, Naruto turned his head the slightest, his blue eyes latching onto his friends black one. "Don't you already know? Heh, look at you, talking so much now just cause you can't move…"

"Shut up and just answer me!" He wanted to hear the answer one last time, though he already knew what it would be.

"That's because you're my friend." Came the quiet reply. It was the answer he wanted but at the same time he wanted more. He didn't know what he was looking for he just did.

"You already said that once. What does that mean to you?" Sasuke continued to scrutinize the blond ninja. He knew he had the answer.

Naruto looked back up at the sky with a quiet breath. "If you want me to explain it, I'm not really sure how to put it." He paused a second as he tried to gather his thoughts. "It's just that, when I hear you blabbering about carrying everything on your shoulders…I can kinda feel the pain too." Sasuke felt a jolt of shock go through him as Naruto continued. "It really hurts. There's just no way I can ignore it!" Sasuke looked away in guilty thought. _He really does understand me?_ "Well…" Sasuke's eyes returned to the face of his one and only true friend as he continued speaking. "Today I'm hurting all over so there isn't much I can do."(Chapter 698 Naruto Manga)

Neither of them spoke after that and slowly, with the full moon high in the sky, they slowly drifted off to a much needed sleep.

After they had awoken and Sakura had healed them as best as she could they returned to the battle field to release the jutsu that Madara had placed on everyone. The shouts had started as confusion then had turned to concern as the ones released first saw their comrades still wrapped up in slowly unraveling bark. Soon that concern altered to joyous shouts as they realized they'd won the war. It was over.

Naruto and Sasuke stood on a hill over looking the field with their hands entwined into the release hand sign. When they sensed the jutsu completely faded they slowly separated, allowing their respective hand to fall to their sides. Naruto looked over those who were celebrating and felt a tug of pain in his chest for those who had been lost in the battle.

_Neji…I'm so sorry, I'll protect Hinata in your place._

Voice continued to rise to a chaotic volume as Naruto and Sasuke turned away for Sasuke to release the tailed beasts from the rinnegans control. Naruto took this time to see if the Ninetails was injured in any way and if we wanted to stay released. He was surprised when he returned without a single negative remark and started sending chakra to heal some of the more serious superficial injuries.

The two of them returned to the edge of the battlefield, neither wanting to step foot into the midst of ninja celebrating. Neither of them wanted any attention at the moment so they stayed together at the edge sitting at the top of the hill.

While sitting there, Sasuke continuously glanced between Naruto and the chaos of the celebration. He looked as if he wanted to leave but was waiting for Naruto to leave with him. Naruto, in the meantime, was scanning the mass of bodies looking for lavender eyes and long dark hair. He could sense her chakra, so he knew she was alive, but he wanted to _see_ that she was alright.

As they sat there, some ninja closer to them started to notice them. Shikamaru, the first to move to them noticed something wrong. He slowly made his way up the hill as he took note of their appearance. Both of them were covered in blood and dirt. Swollen bruises dotted their faces and both of them were hunched over looking almost blank.

"Yoh, Naruto." Shikamaru trudged up to them.

"Shikamaru" Naruto's smile was half assed. He looked like he wanted to smile but couldn't.

_What a drag._ He sighed. As he got closer Naruto pushed up to his feet and Shikamaru felt himself freeze in shock at seeing what the damage was. He felt his rage boil up because he knew that the two would have fought. He couldn't believe the traitor had done this kind of damage and Naruto was up here sitting with him. He shot a look at Sasuke as he stood and felt another jolt of shock at seeing him in the same condition as Naruto. _Wha-? _

"It's no big deal."

Naruto's quiet reply had Shikamaru's gaze swinging back to latch onto blue eyes that stared at him in quiet understanding. He cleared his throat, "What happened to you two?"

"We'll fill everyone in later…though I'd like to wait and let everyone rest up a bit."

Shikamaru continued to stare at Naruto until he sighed and nodded. As he passed he whispered "Tonight" to the shadow ninja before continuing down the hill. He'd just caught sight of Sakura leading Grandma Tsunade and wanted to quietly head them off before they caused a commotion by yelling at him and Sasuke.

Later that night, surrounded by the konohona 11, Naruto and Sasuke told the other what happened. As reactions set it and questions started to fly one ninja used her byakugan to check on the chakra network of her two fellow ninja. For the most part their network seemed undamaged and relatively healthy. But when it entered in their injured arms it stopped suddenly. The chakra network was intact right up into the amputation sight. Though neither of them had a full set of hands anymore, she didn't see a reason they both couldn't continue being ninja. As she released her eye jutsu she noticed Shikamaru looking at her expectantly. Not wanting to draw attention to herself she just smiled reassuringly at him. With that he seemed to relax and turned back to the group questioning the two in their beds.

But, another ninja had noticed the altercation. He tensed in his bed as more questions hurtled at them relentlessly. He wanted to ask but didn't want to draw attention to the Hyuga girl. He'd wait…as patiently as he could.

Slowly, as the night wore on, the young ninja all started yawning and drifting away to go home to sleep in their own beds after being away for so long. He sent a signal to both Shikamaru and Hinata for them to linger. While they sighed or blushed the rest started to head out. When it was just the four of them, the two injured ninja along with the shadow controller and Hyuga girl silence reigned for a moment.

"So." Naruto's voice was even and low though he was tense. "What's the verdict?"

Shikamaru, not bothering to be clueless, turned to Hinata. "What'd you see with you byakugan?"

Sasuke's eyes sharpened as he watched the girl.

"W-well…"She blushed. She hadn't known that she had been caught looking and wasn't sure how much she should tell them. She looked into Naruto's deep blue eyes. No, he was always honest with her…there was no way she wouldn't be with him. "K-keep in mind that I'm not a medical ninja…b-but from what I saw neither of you chakra networks are overly damaged."

Shikamaru looked at her with confusion. "The lack of the arm hasn't damaged their network?"

"It's s-severed it…rather cleanly too, but it hasn't damaged it any further. S-since it's undamaged, I d-don't see why they can't continue being ninja." Hinata glanced down knowing that Naruto's main jutsu's needed two hands to complete the seals. "Y-you'd just need to train to m-manipulate the chakra you need with just one hand."

"Hinata." At Naruto's quiet voice she looked up quickly. Shock brought a heavier blush to her cheeks. "Thankyou" His eyes looked at her softly with concern and caring.

While Hinata was lost in thought over Naruto's attentions Shikamaru and Naruto sent slight nods at each other. They were going to keep this quiet for now…and subtly pump the Hokage for information on how to adjust to the new situation.

**I took a lot of this chapter from the manga…I won't be doing it again but I wanted to be as accurate as possible…Hope you enjoy**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Naruto watched the sun rise from where he sat on the swing. They'd been released the next day from the hospital and the day after that the funerals had started. Then it had just been day after day of grieving and comforting and nightmares.

Not that he was complaining since he along with everyone else grieved and comforted at each funeral they attended. The hardest part though, was seeing the wives of the Nara and Yamanaka clans. They had held strong on the outside, but if you looked close enough you could see they were shattered that the love of their life's were gone. Their children stood next to them with the Akimichi clan being the support that was sorely needed.

And when it came time for Neji's funeral, he stood beside Hinata quietly holding her hand and silently trying to be the support that she needed. Now that he thought back to that time he realized that she had been comforting him as well. Somehow, along their journey, she had come to be the one that could comfort him.

Since Pain had attacked her, he knew that she meant something to him. For her to be injured to break his mind and spirit so easily had to mean she was important. But it wasn't until she had snapped him out of his stupor during the war that he realized just _how_ important. Both he and Kurama had felt that change, that…love…begin to grow.

Naruto pushed his feet against the ground to move the swing into action. Everything was moving fast, but so slowly at the same time. He couldn't seem to keep up with all the changes that were in the works but the days were the grief overwhelmed them dragged like weeks.

Naruto pushed again with his feet. The squeak of the swings chains splitting the silence of the playground. He looked around again. He felt a change in the air pressure and threw out his senses. That's when he felt it. He had let himself get complacent sitting in the quiet morning that he hadn't noticed he was no longer alone.

Slowly, Naruto turned to look over his shoulder. The lowest branch of the tree behind him held a familiar face. A calm black eye looked down at him and waited patiently for some kind of acknowledgment. His hands held the ever present book but his eye was not on the text. The wind swayed his gray hair softly as he held his perched position. Naruto looked away just as slowly from his sensei. Breathing out a deep sigh he stood from the swing and collected his trash. Not saying anything, he walked away.

He knew he would follow. Naruto knew that Kakashi-sensei was signaling him that they needed to talk but it was needed to be in the privacy of an enclosed room. He nodded slightly as he threw his trash in the garbage can, signaling he understood, before using his newly developed chakra step to disappear. He infused chakra into the soles of his feet to give him a boosted speed as he made his way back to his apartment.

As Naruto approached his apartment he took note that Kakashi-sensei's chakra had disappeared from behind him. _Must've been a shadow clone. I must be slipping up if I hadn't noticed that._ But then again, his mind had been elsewhere.

He stepped into the silent apartment knowing Kakashi wouldn't be there yet, he _was_ always late. He took the time to wash up. The sweat from the nightmare the previous night as well as the light sweat from the run back and made him start to feel itchy, so he walked back to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

When he made his way back to the kitchen, he could tell it wasn't just Kakashi-sensei. Iruka-sensei was the only one that would have either brought or made breakfast for them. The sent of grilled eggs and cooked rice permeated the air and made Naruto's stomach growl loudly. When he stepped through the doorway he had his usual grin on his face.

"All right!" Naruto slipped into his chair and picked up the pair of chopsticks "Iruka-sensei you're the best!"

"Haha! Well I know how much you can eat!" Iruka watched him fondly as he broke the chopsticks apart with his hand and teeth. _I should've thought to snap them apart for him_. "Kakashi told me we had to have a quiet meeting early this morning so I thought I'd bring some grub!"

"ITADAKIMASU!" Naruto slowly dug into his food, still not use to using his left hand to eat.

Kakashi, who had been sitting at the table watching the interaction finally put his book down. "Naruto."

"Hm?"

"Hinata and Shikamaru were in to speak with Lady Hokage last night." Kakashi watched Naruto hesitate for a moment before continuing with his eating.

"Hmmm"

Iruka had noticed the slight hesitation and looked towards Kakashi wondering what this was about while, Kakashi took the slight hesitation to mean that Naruto knew exactly what had been said. _Good! This will speed things along._

"Lady Hokage has decided to research the possibility of using Hashirama's cells to create a prosthetic arm for the two of you." Again Naruto 'hmm-ed' before continuing eating. Iruka was now completely focused on Kakashi. "She wants you to come in this afternoon for a check up and compatibility test."

"That's fantastic!" Iruka turned to Naruto. "You'll get full function of both arms again and be able to continue being a ninja!"

"Mhmm" Both of his teachers now worried as again Naruto didn't speak or look up from his bowl.

"Naruto?" Iruka said quietly into the silence. "Look at me."

At the command Naruto sighed quietly before looking up into his sensei's brown eyes. His brow had crinkled as he looked at Naruto in concern.

"You don't seem excited…why?"

Naruto sighed again as he tried to figure out how to word his thoughts. He leaned back in his chair and pushed his unfinished plate away slightly. "There's no guarantee it'll work." He stated quietly. "I just don't want to get my hopes up."

Kakashi and Iruka were both shocked. Naruto was known for jumping to conclusions and usually the optimistic ones at that. The fact that he was holding judgment and going further and being quietly pessimistic shocked and worried them both.

Iruka tried to shove any doubts and concerns away. They needed to be positive. "This will work Naruto…I have faith."

Naruto looked at his to sensei's then down to where his right arm ended. "Hinata was able to tell that the network was severed." At Iruka's slight inhale he looked back up. "_She_ was able to see how a prosthetic would be able to connect to my current chakra network. However,-" He paused to collect himself for this next part. It didn't sit well with him that he was doubting Grandma Tsunade's ability. "…she has no medical training. And neither Grandma Tsunade nor Sakura, who are the best at healing, can see the chakra network to connect them during the surgery." His eyes fell back to his arm. "You'll remember, Kakashi-sensei, that Grandma Tsunade once said she couldn't heal a destroyed chakra network. So why do either of you think that I'll be able to use it to mold chakra?"

Kakashi didn't reply as he just watched his student silently. He knew Naruto wasn't as dense, in most of the situations, as they thought he was. He kept his whole focus on his student as he heard Iruka mumble the boys name quietly. He knew he'd go through with the surgery. Of that he had no doubt. He knew the boy wanted to have a full functioning arm again…but the fact that he had reasoned out several problems and was now actively thinking about them concerned him.

"Well, the choice, either way, is yours." Kakashi looked at the clouded blue eyes of his sensei's child. _I'll keep him safe Minato-sensei_. But when you go into surgery both Iruka and myself will be in there with you."

At this both Naruto's eyes and Iruka's latched onto his in shock. "Wha~?" came the duel reply.

His eye crinkled at the corner when he smiled at that under his mask. "Lady Tsunade wants someone who knows how your chakra control works and can help adjust it, as needed, present. So, over the next few months we'll be working with Shizune to prepare you for the surgery."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, then he sighed and closed his eyes in defeat. "You want to come with me don't you?"

Kakashi smiled. He knew Naruto had been sneaking out of the village every chance he could. And, according to the Hyuga girl in last nights meeting, he'd been coming back nearly chakra exhausted every time. "I know you're training with something…and what better way for Iruka and I to become reacquainted with your style than to observe you training."

Naruto looked at him hard before smirking. "Well then…I guess the best way for that is for you to follow me when I go next time. Of course I never know when I'll decide when's the next best time for me to go so you'll just have to be prepared to leave at a moments notice."

"Wait…" Iruka looked confused as he looked at Naruto. "you don't know when you'll be training again?"

"I've been leaving it all up to how I feel at the time and whether or not I have something I'm suppose to be doing." He replied with a shrug. "Some days I want to go but I just don't feel up to it."

"Hmmm" _Well, he still is recovering…I'll summon Paku and have him watch Naruto for awhile._

Over the next few weeks more changes began to occur. Teams were adjusted and being sent out on missions, medical training started for those who would be working on the prosthetic, new clan heads were announced and celebrated…and Lady Tsunade announced she was stepping down as Hokage.

**Very soon I'll have Hinata as a more prominent character…Hope you're enjoying**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Naruto sat with some of his friends eating at Ichiraku when he started getting that panicky feeling again. Lately, he'd have random attacks of stomach twisting itchiness that made him just want to run as far away from the village as he could. This had been his signal to go out and burn off some energy (aka train) but it had started to come more frequent as his healing had progressed.

Now, with the urge to run somewhere twisting his insides he found himself trying to find a way to leave Kiba and Choji without seeming like he was running for the hills.

"I just can't believe they chose Kakashi-sensei to be the next Hokage…" Kiba's loud voice broke him out of his stupor. He ranted that there were ninja that were better at being on time than the soon-to-be Hokage.

"Naruto, aren't you going to defend your sensei?" Choji asked confusedly while he finished off his next bowl of ramen.

"It's true that he's always late…" Came Naruto's quiet reply and Kiba smirked in victory. "But, you're wrong Kiba." Kiba choked on his ramen that he had just taken a sip of and Choji burst out laughing. "Kakashi-sensei is one of the best when it comes to thinking strategically and politically. And though he's lazy…" It was Choji's turn to choke in surprise of Naruto's slight bashing of his sensei, "he'll work tirelessly to make sure the will of fire is protected."

"Hmph! I don't know Naruto…I mean I still think they should've had you take over. I mean, you _are_ the hero of the village."

"Hero?"

"Yeah! You're unbeatable!"

Naruto took a moment to look at Kiba before he started to rise "I'm not a hero…I'd be dead if it wasn't for my friends." Kiba looked away guiltily as he thought of Neji. "And the village doesn't need 'unbeatable' it needs 'stability'. Kakashi-sensei can give that right now…and in a few years…so will I."

"You heading out Naruto?"

"Yeah." Naruto placed the money for his ramen on the counter. "Sorry Choji. I'm working on something and need to get to it. We'll finish catching up later." Naruto waved as he walked away.

A little farther away, Paku spoke into his headset.

"_I know you're busy being trained as the village leader but, you wanted to know when Naruto was acting strange. Well, I've got him acting strange."_

"_Thanks Paku. Track him for now and relate the directions to me as soon as you can. I'll be there this time."_

"_Here's hoping I can keep him in my sights this time…his shadow clones threw me for loop last time."_

Kakashi waited for Paku to send him directions. He'd just relayed to Lady Tsunade what was happening. She was concerned about Naruto and dismissed Kakashi from what they'd deemed "Hokage Training" so he could follow.

When the quiet directions came Kakashi sped out after Naruto. This time, they were going to see what was wrong.

Kakashi came to the clearing to watch Naruto and several clones (they still weren't sure on how he was summoning those) working on several different things.

One group of clones seemed to be working on taijutsu. Another seemed to be working on forming rasengan with just one hand. And the last seemed to be working on something new…that seemed almost like a barrier.

Paku came up beside Kakashi. "Which one is the real one?" came the almost silent whisper.

Paku looked up at his master before looking back at the real Naruto. The only reason he knew was because he'd watched him summon the clones. "He's the one sitting on the log with the rasengan group."

Kakashi looked over at him. While most of the Naruto's were slightly pale and sweaty from their efforts, this Naruto was ghostly pale. Though his body seemed just as tense as all his clones around him it was his eyes that troubled the teacher. They were jittery, as if he was 10 years old and being questioned by the ANBU again.

He continued to watch in silence, making sure to mask both his and Paku's presence. As the Naruto's continued to train he noticed every so often the real one would hunch over slightly and rub his stub of a right arm as if in pain before continuing where he left off. _I wonder what's wrong with his arm that he keeps rubbing it…is that why he keeps skipping out on his check ups?_

After several hours the shadow clones started to disappear. Once it was just Naruto left Kakashi thought he'd have to start his run after the boy. But, once again, he was surprised. The blond ninja just sat there staring off into space, his left hand once again returning to where his right had been cut off. His blue eyes clouded for a moment before clearing and Naruto standing up and slowly heading back to the village.

They made it back just as the sun was starting to set behind the trees, casting the village in an orange glow. He walked past the gate guards with a smile and wave before continuing towards his apartment. Once Kakashi was sure he was safely inside he went to find Lady Tsunade to report his findings.

Tsunade was not happy. She was a medical ninja at heart and when the boy who she thought of as a son did not take proper care of himself, she became irate. She set off after the last of her paper work was done to head to his apartment. She could've sent for him to report to the tower but she wanted to speak with him in the privacy of his home. There were to many people at Hokage tower getting ready for the transfer of power…No, she wanted absolute privacy.

When she arrived she didn't bother knocking. Instead she sent her chakra into the lock and manipulated it until it sprang free and opened quietly. She stepped inside.

As she quietly looked around she noticed the utter silence. Either he was dead or he wasn't home. "Dammit!" She walked into his room to see the covers strewn across the bed and the pillow thrown across the room. She went to his open window, and, knowing her boy as she did, stepped out to make her way to the park.

She rounded the corner and saw Naruto sprawled out on the slide. His legs on the higher incline while his head hung off the edge. His eyes were closed but with how taught his muscles were, she knew it wasn't from sleep.

Tsunade walked quietly up to sit on the swing closest to the slide. Not saying a word until the blond haired boy sighed quietly. "You need something Grandma Tsunade?"

"Nope."

Naruto looked over at her then. She could see the nightmare still in his eyes, making him look haunted and a little frazzled.

"If you're looking for a stiff drink and a gamble, you're in the wrong playground."

She smirked. "You're starting to sound like Jiraya."

Naruto looked away at that. When she thought he wouldn't say another thing about it he surprised her. "Why did you ask Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei to help monitor my chakra during the surgery."

Tsunade looked at him without answering. She wanted him to explain the reason behind the question.

Naruto saw her look pointedly in his direction. He sighed, "Iruka-sensei hasn't been a part of my training in a very long time. Him being able to help my body adjust will be to difficult for him in such a short amount of time. And Kakashi-sensei…though he was the leader of our team…he was always more concerned with helping Sasuke when it came to training. Or helping me train only when Pervy Sage asked him to…"

Tsunade closed her eyes. He was more observant that she gave him credit for…and more pessimistic about his own personal worth than she ever thought he could be.

"They are the two people in this village that understand you best." As Naruto's eyes met hers she felt her heart tug. "They are the two that has changed the most because of you." Tsunade stood and walked over to crouch in-front of Naruto. "They are the two that I trust most not to let anything happen to you."

As Naruto absorbed her words he slowly got up off the slide. He turned to look into her brown eyes. She was the closest thing he had to a mother. He could trust her with what he was about to say…

"I'm having night terrors." Tsunade's eyes softened in sympathy as he continued to tell her what they were mostly about. When he finished she reached out a hand to run it comfortingly through his hair. She brought him closer so he could bury his face against her shoulder. Wiping the tears he hadn't known was falling she murmured quietly that he would be okay and that it was a natural reaction, calming his racing mind for the first time, in what seemed to be weeks.


End file.
